Member postings for Dom (Essential RC)

Take a ride onboard the huge Avro Vulcan Bomber flown by Dave Johnson, UK Large Model Association (LMA) Chairman. After he gets in the air the Valiant and Victor bombers flown by his son and grandson, Andy and Adam, take off and catch up for some formation flying.

This is a regular video containing 360 panoramic clips that have been animated to capture the optimum action.

The Avro Vulcan is powered by four 100N turbine engines and has a 20 foot wingspan !

Some really nice scale details on this Spitfire. Flap indicators, cockpit detail, split flaps and hidden control surface linkages to name a few. Vid of my first flight. Immediate confidence to strafe the strip with fast passes but mixed in slow passes to show it's broad ability...and some scale aerobatics.

Superb re-creation of the C-130 with scale retractable landing gear and synchronised doors, flaps, operational cargo bay door and high intensity lights all round. Action from my first two flights after showing the kit itself before assembly.

Took James a while to put this kit together. FlyFly kits are basically styrofoam airframes with the motor/escs thrown in so there was a lot to do. Patience paid off though and despite the excessive elevator throws it flew really well.

Great to see 3 of these awesome little EDF jets go up together at Southern Model Show. The temptation to fly through the gap in the trees was too great for the pilots. They nearly all made it through. Nearly.

Mark Hinton flies his large scale Aviation Design Rafale at the HobbyKing UK Live event. I have filmed this in the past at other UK shows but on this occasion Mark had added some simulated flare counter-measures. Looked good against the dark skies we had on that particular day.

Gregg gave us a superb demonstration of his super scale Zero at the North London MFC Scale Day. Built from a Meister plan. Wingspan is 108 inches. Overall weight is 40 lbs. The engine is a Sachs Dolmar 70cc. Features a detachable fuel tank which he dropped towards the end of his flight. Fortunately it wasn't full so it didn't explode on impact

A new version of the T-28 Trojan in, what I think, is the best scheme Durafly have ever applied to a model. Takes a few minutes to assemble, drop in a receiver and setup the transmitter. No decals to apply. It comes out of the box as you see it on the box. In the air the most noticeable characteristic is how slow it will fly. With the air brake out and the flaps extended it will crawl along and keep well within a small flying field like mine. This T-28 is also highly aerobatic and it would make an excellent 2nd RC plane for the relative beginner after they have mastered something like a Bixler 1.1 for learning the basics. The model comes with a frame to help in installing FPV gear under the canopy. I'm looking forward to trying that out myself. Here's my flight test of Durafly's latest offering.

This was fun to film. Who needs expensive turbine jets when you can get these amazing ready to fly electric ducted fan EDF jets for a fraction of the price. They look superb in the air and especially when there are 2 of them being flown so well together. Flown by Mike Donnelly and Billy Evans at Southern Model Show 2018.

Was nervous about flying this one out of my small local grass flying field but was no problem. It's a very unique and distinctive looking jet! Get the nose wheel off the deck for the positive AOA and it's airborne quickly on the stock power system. Maybe 10mph of semi-gusty wind when I flew which does move it around a little when cruising. I think a rudder gyro would help with that but if you keep the speed up that disappears. Full flap slows it up nicely for landing with a bit of power to keep the nose up. All in all lots of fun and looks so good in the air. With 2 other pink SkySwords at our club we're looking forward to some formation flying. Action down the flying field starts @ 3:32 and was filmed as always in 4K60FPS.

I have filmed several turbine F-4 Phantoms. It's an iconic jet and have always wanted to try flying one but a turbine version is well out of my reach. Cue the Freewing F-4D Phantom II. Looks like the real thing after 15 minutes of assembly and applying the decals. Dropped in my receiver and a 6S5000 flight pack and I was ready to go.

With all my recent filming of turbine A-10s I had to have the nearest thing. One of the 'Essential RC' team had told me Motion RC had opened an EU warehouse so after a quick stock check on their web site I made the order for the big 1.7m Freewing A-10. It shipped same day and was with me 2 days later! Building time is very quick. Simple assembly takes 30-60 minutes. Applying the water type decals takes several hours if you want to apply them all. I used two Optipower 100C 5S6000 lipo packs. Achieving CG was easy at about 85mm from leading edge. The video shows take off from a very short strip. Although possible it's not recommended. Having a more aft CG and holding in the elevator until the front wheel is off the deck is a must to achieve it. A fully aerobatic flight. Enough power. You can retrofit 90mm fan units but I don't see the need unless you want unlimited vertical but at the cost of less flight time. I timed for 4.5 minutes which gave me 15-20% left in the packs. The landing was overshot on this video. First time flying the A-10 at this site. In hindsight should have made a lower approach. The descent gave me extra speed on touchdown I didn't need!

All in all a spectacular and big EDF jet. Not cheap but considering it's size and it's plug'n'play format it's fair. Building something like this from scratch would be a lot more expensive. The included ordnance set is fragile, especially the sidewinders but 3D printed replacement versions can be found in thingiverse.com.

It's fairly good but I think next year should see it leap in the quality of 360 video from Insta360 again. Looking forward to getting that next version. Now all I need to do is convince some other capable formation pilots to try out this 360 cam.

Take a ride onboard the huge Avro Vulcan Bomber flown by Dave Johnson, Chairman of the Large Model Association. After he gets in the air the Valiant and Victor bombers flown by his son and grandson, Andy and Adam, take off and catch up for some formation flying.

This is a 360 panoramic video. You control the view. Use your mouse pointer to move the field of view. Pan left, right, up and down. Recommend selecting the highest possible resolution from the list available in the bottom right of the player. An up to date version of your browser is required to play these 360 videos. Chrome is best.

Simon Potter flies his G.91 at Classic Jets #75 event in Abingdon. A rarely modelled scale radio controlled jet in an amazing scheme applied by the master, Philip Noel of Pinnacle Aviation. For more information about Phil's services go here http://www.pinnacleaviation.co.uk/

The Fiat G.91 is an Italian jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Fiat Aviazione, which later merged into Aeritalia. The G.91 has its origins in the NATO-organised NBMR-1 competition in 1953, which sought a light fighter-bomber "Light Weight Strike Fighter" to be adopted as standard equipment across the air forces of the various NATO nations. After reviewing multiple submissions, the G.91 was picked as the winning design of the NBMR-1 competition.

After the less than successful maiden where an overshoot on landing ripped out the landing gear, James split the ailerons for flaps and put in beech bearers to support the mains. Time for a second attempt.

Paul Camilleri has a minor engine start-up issue for his first flight at Wings & Wheels Model Show but returns with a stunning show flight later in the day after rushing home to get and install a new engine in his AzAerosports Havoc sport jet. HOT START HERO !